Originally posted by Ja Worsley
Airline owner: It’s too big and the wings are swept thus short field performance is not that good!

Do you know that for a fact or are you just assuming? I’ve never seen performance numbers for either the Yak-40 or 42 but it’s not a matter of wingsweep. The Falcon bizjets have some serious sweep and they are outstanding shortfield aircraft. The Yak-42 from what I’ve seen have some pretty significant leading edge devices.

Originally posted by Johnny
So do ramp personnels work on the tarmac, doing pushbacks etc? Thats what I was talking about originally. Although that does sound interesting with the flight plans.

Yes. They do everything from pushing aircraft back from the gate to loading and unloading cargo/bags. It looks like an awful fun job on nice days but it’s anything but when it’s cold and raining.

Originally posted by captainben
No he’s a supervisor, my mam’s best mate does that for easyjet at NCL, a dispatcher walks with the aircraft while pushing back and talks to the captain.

Actually dispatchers sit in front of computer screens in buildings quite possibly far away from the airport or any airplane. What you discribed is ramp personnel.

A dispatcher creates the flight plan taking into consideration weather, altitude, possible delays. mechanical limitations, weight limitations, etc. They file that flight plan with ATC. From there they put together a packet of information for the flight crew that includes the flight plan, weather reports for the route of flight as well as summaries of the planned route and mechanical issues.

Any questions a flight crew has about weather or possible delays before or during a flight are directed to the dispatcher either by phone, ACARS or radio. They have to be able to think quick and accurately. If a flight crew is given a new route by ATC that also includes a new cruising altitude they contact dispatch to see what the fuel penaties will be. The dispatcher will crunch the new numbers and give the flight crew a new expected fuel burn due to the longer route and change in altitude.

During all fights they handle during their shift they’ll monitor the progress of each aircraft. They have some pretty cool computer displays that they utilize. If they should see a building line of weather ahead they’ll contact aircraft that will be affected by it and offer options to get around the weather.

Just the other day we had our dispatcher contact us for icing reports aloft and on the descent. It turns out that one of our company aicraft behind us had a probe heat fail enroute which made flight into known icing conditions prohibitive. The dispatcher was contacting company aircraft ahead looking for a possible route of flight that the broken aircraft could flight to avoid any icing conditions. He had to work quick as we were all flying along at 500 mph.

Another one leaving? Man, what am I missing here? Everyone seems to be bailing out.

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Originally posted by Jeanske_SN
Ye your right, the cockpit door SHOULD NOT be open.
I saw some touchpad with numbers next to the door, and the FA’s knew the code to open the door. So the door CAN be opened from the outside?

Just because they have a touchpad doesn’t mean that it will give you access. There is most likely a master lock on the other side that must be first released before the outside keypad can grant access.

Spotting isn’t nearly as popular here in the States but there is still spotters out there. I see them quite frequently on the approach end in Cleveland. Soon a resturant will be opening on the approach with an observation deck which will be really nice. Then you can sit back with a cold one and watch the inbound or outbound traffic. 🙂

I’ve spent plenty of time in Boston and the surrounding area. Gotta love the Big Dig.